This list is by no means complete or absolute.
I expect to add to it as new books come along or people draw my attention to obvious gaps.
Three to five year old children are able to pay attention to longer stories and they appreciate more complex storylines.
Their humour is developing and they enjoy books with twists and surprises.
Fears can also be also developing, therefore books that explore these issues can be useful as too books that provide 'fun' frights.
Rhyming and repetiton are still important at this age, as many children will try to 'read' their favourites stories. This usually involves memorising entire pages and whole books to start with. The predictable text and rhymes help this memory skill.
Letter and simple word recognition usually begins around age four, although most children will be recognising familiar symbols from an earlier age (i.e. their own name, the golden M for McDonald's, their favourite cereal package or juice drink).
As always, the best way for young children to develop a love of reading is for you to read to them often and over and over again. Although you may be well and truly over reading one particular favourite, if your child is asking for it again, it is obviously fulfilling some need.
Reading books multiple times allows your child to memorise the language and to become confident at being a book user. In this case, familiarity breeds knowledge, experience and understanding.
Happy Reading!
Classics
Allen and Janet Ahlberg - The Jolly Postman
Chris Van Allsburg - Jumanji
Ludwig Bemelmans - Madeline
John Burningham - The Avocado Baby, Mr Gumpy's Outing, Mr Gumpy's Motor Car, The Shopping Basket
Virginia Lee Burton - Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, The Little House
Eric Carle - The Bad-Tempered Ladybird, The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Mem Fox - Possum Magic, Koala Lou, Where is the Green Sheep
Shirley Hughes - Dogger, Titch
Pat Hutchins - Rosie's Walk
Ezra Jack Keats - The Snowy Day, A Letter to Amy, Peter's Chair
Judith Kerr - The Tiger Who Came to Tea
John Vernon Lord - The Giant Jam Sandwich
Sam McBratney - Guess How Much I Love You
A A Milne - Winnie the Pooh
Arlene Mosel - Tikki Tikki Tembo
Robert Munsch - The Paperbag Princess
Louise Pfanner - Louise Builds A Boat
Beatrix Potter - The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Maurice Sendak - Where the Wild Things Are
Esphyr Slobodkina - Caps for Sale
Judith Viorst - Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Elfrida Vipont - The Elephant and the Bad Baby
Martin Waddell - Owl Babies
Australian
Pamela Allen - Make Way for the Duckling, Waddle Giggle Gargle, Who Sank the Boat?
Duncan Ball - Jeremy's Tail
Aaron Blabey - Stanley Paste
Mem Fox - Where is the Green Sheep, Koala Lou, Tough Boris
Katrina Germein - Big Rain Coming
Bob Graham - Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten, Queenie the Bantam
Alison Lester - Are We There Yet?
Nadia Wheatley - My Place
Margaret Wild - There's A Sea in My Bedroom
Tim Winton - The Deep
Rhyming
Pamela Allen - Mr McGee
Giles Andreae - Giraffes Can’t Dance
Lynley Dodd - Hairy Maclary From Donaldson Dairy
Julia Donaldson - The Gruffalo, What the Ladybird Heard, Stick Man, Room on the Broom, The Snail and the Whale
Alison Lester
Dr Seuss
Humour
Jez Alborough - Eddy's Teddy, Duck in the Truck, Fix-It Duck
Pamela Allen - Belinda, Fancy That
Anthony Browne - My Dad, Willy the Wimp
Lauren Child - I Will Not Ever Never Eat A Tomato series
Babette Cole - The Trouble With Mum, Princess Smarty Pants
Drew Daywalt - The Day the Crayons Quit
Ian Falconer - Olivia
Claire Freedman - Aliens Love Underpants
Taro Gomi - Everyone Poops
Emily Gravett
Werner Holzwarth - The Story of the Mole Who Knew it was None of His Business
Oliver Jeffers - Stuck
Lydia Monks - Aaaargh Spider, I Wish I Were A Dog
Helen Nichols and Jan Pienkowski - Meg and Mog series
Tony Ross
Elizabeth Rose Stanton - Henny
Jon Stone - The Monster At the End of This Book
Traditional - There Was An Old lady Who Swallowed A Fly
Herve Tullet - Press Here
Mo Willems - Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
Don and Audrey Wood - The Little Mouse the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear
Pictures to Pour Over
Jeannie Baker
Bronwyn Bancroft
Graeme Base
Anthony Browne
Alison Lester
Scary books
Allen Ahlberg - Funnybones
Berenstain Bears - The Spooky Old Tree
Ruth Brown - A Dark, Dark Tale
David A. Carter - In a Dark, Dark Wood: An Old Tale with a New Twist
Tomie De Paola - The Teeny Tiny Woman'
Katharine Holabird - Alexander and the Dragon
Margaret Mahy - The Lion in the Meadow
Brenda Parkes - The Hobyahs
Maurice Sendak - Where the Wild Things Are
Traditional - The Gingerbread Man
What a fantastic and comprehensive list. Thank you for taking the time to put this together! I love your explanations/ categories. I will save this to Pocket to look at the next time I take my youngest to the library. I'm so glad Mo Willems made your list!!
ReplyDeleteI agree, what a fabulous list! We read quite a few of them when Lachlan was little. He loved Dogger so, so much. There are quite a few favourites there.
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